‘I can’t stay here.’
A merciless vice squeezed his chest. ‘Why not?’
Her face creased in fresh anguish. ‘Because he is right. The food he put on our table; the clothes on my back; our fancy education. They all came from your suffering.’
‘For God’s sake—’
She carried on raggedly. ‘I never stopped to think about it but I remember the day he came home twelve years ago and told my mother our troubles were over. We weren’t exactly poor before then, but after he pressured my mother into selling the ranch he made some bad investments and the company suffered for it. They argued a lot and I used to go to bed every night praying for a miracle just so they’d stop arguing. Can you imagine how I felt when my prayers were answered? And now, all these years later, I find out that what I’d prayed for came at the cost of your—’ She choked to a stop, then frantically threw more clothes into the case.
Theo couldn’t find an answer as desperately as he tried. He was watching her torture herself and he could do nothing to stop it. ‘Anjo—’
‘No. I’m not an angel, Theo. I’m a child of the monster, a heartless devil who tortures children and doesn’t feel an ounce of regret for it. How can you even bear to look at me?’
‘Because you’re not him!’ he interjected fiercely. He took her hands and forced her to face him. ‘You’re not responsible for his actions. Stay, Inez. We said we would talk about us once we were done with him.’
‘But there is no us, is there? We…we just fell into bed because of the circumstances that brought us together. If it hadn’t been for my father you’d never have set foot in Brazil.’
‘So you’re walking away because you think we were never meant to be?’ He watched her, forced himself to think how he would feel if she walked away from him. The realisation of what was happening washed over him and ashen despair filled his chest.
‘I’m walking away because you need to put everything and everyone associated with your ordeal behind you. Otherwise you will never heal properly.’
He dropped her hand and stared down at her. The ice that had started to build inside him since he’d walked into the room hardened. It crept around his heart and Theo swore he heard it crack. His eyes scoured her beautiful tearstained face, looking for a tiny chink. A tiny ray of hope that would offer deliverance from the quicksand of devastation he could feel himself sinking into.
‘So that’s it? That’s your final decision. You’re doing this for my sake but I have no say in the matter?’ He couldn’t stop the bitterness from lacing his voice.
Her answer was to step back and gather up the last of her clothes. With trembling fingers, she zipped up the cases and lifted them off the bed.
‘Inez, answer me!’
She stilled at the door. ‘Adeus, Theo.’
‘Go to hell!’ he snarled back.
* * *
‘Table Four need a second helping of feijoadas. And a bottle of Rioja.’ Camila bustled into the kitchen, checked on the bubbling pot Inez was stirring and nodded in approval. ‘Fantastico. I’ll be back in a minute for that order.’ She sailed back out on a giddy whirlwind.
Inez wiped her sweating brow and looked over her shoulder. ‘Pietro, you grab the bottle; I’ll serve up the feijoadas.’
Her brother rolled his eyes. ‘Who made you queen of the kitchen?’
‘I did, when I won the coin toss earlier.’
Her grin came easier today—much easier than it had for far longer than she wanted to dwell on. She still couldn’t go for more than ten seconds without thinking of Theo but if she could joke with her brother, that was a good sign that this hollow, half-dead devastation she carried inside her would eventually ease. Right?
‘I still think you cheated,’ Pietro grumbled.
She lifted one shoulder. ‘I’ll let you explain to Camila, then, why the Rioja isn’t here when she returns, sim?’
‘Tomorrow, I’m tossing the coin.’ He sauntered down the stairs into the basement that served as the restaurant’s larder and wine cellar. The smell of the cheese Camila kept in the small space could be overpowering and she smiled again as Pietro made gagging noises.